France Trains Paralyzed By Sabotage As Olympics Get Underway
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
PARIS (Worthy News) – French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said Friday that the “intelligence services are mobilized” after authorities said train services in France, including the international Eurostar service, were disrupted in a “coordinated sabotage effort.”
The disruption came just hours before the inauguration ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games when the nation was on high alert for possible terror attacks.
Paris prosecutors announced they had already opened an investigation into a “criminal” attack on France’s high-speed train network. French train operator SNCF said the country’s high-speed network had been targeted with widespread and “criminal” acts.
Officials said that disrupted travel for hundreds of thousands of people. The Paris prosecutor confirmed that the probe would focus on “fundamental national interests.”
France’s high-speed rail network was hit by “malicious acts,” including arson attacks that disrupted the transport system, train operator SNCF said Friday.
Officials and SNCF said the coordinated acts of “sabotage” were a massive attack on a large scale to paralyse the TGV network, adding that many routes would have to be cancelled.
“SNCF was the victim of several simultaneous malicious acts overnight,” the national train operator explained, adding that the attacks affected its Atlantic, northern and eastern lines.
ARSON ATTACKS
“Arson attacks were started to damage our facilities,” it said, adding that traffic on the affected lines was “heavily disrupted” and the situation would last through the weekend as repairs are conducted.
Trains were being diverted to different tracks, “but we will have to cancel a large number of them,” the statement added.
The southeastern line was not affected as “a malicious act was foiled.”
French officials described the attacks on France’s high-speed rail network as “criminal actions” and said they were investigating whether they were linked to the Olympic Games.
The disruptions come as the world’s eye is turning to Paris, which impacted a quarter of a million people on Friday. Officials said the impact of the sabotage could last through the weekend and possibly longer.
French security forces are hunting the people behind Friday’s attacks that hobbled the country’s high-speed rail network, Prime Attal said.
“Our intelligence services and law enforcement are mobilized to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts,” Attal wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
COORDINATED ACTS
He called the attacks “prepared and coordinated acts of sabotage against (rail operator) SNCF’s installations” with “huge and serious consequences for the rail network.”
It comes just days after French authorities announced there they detained a Russian man for allegedly plotting acts of “destabilization” during the Paris Olympics, while just a separate video emerged promising “rivers of blood” in Paris.
The 40-year-old man was reportedly arrested Sunday for the possible passing of “intelligence to a foreign power to arouse hostilities in France.”
The alleged plot was not believed to have been for a terror attack. However, it came while on social media, footage emerged of a man saying “rivers of blood will flow” at the upcoming Olympics in Paris, which Israel is set to compete in.
In the minute-long clip, a masked Arabic-speaking man addressed “the people of France and the French President [Emmanuel] Macron” and warned them that they would be punished for supporting “the Zionist regime in its criminal war against the people of Palestine.”
“You provided Zionists with weapons; you helped murder our brothers and sisters, our children,” the man, standing before a slate grey background, said to the camera. “You invited the Zionists to the Olympic games. You will pay for what you have done.”
Wearing dark attire and a Palestinian flag over his chest, the man continued: “Rivers of blood will flow through the streets of Paris. This day is approaching, God willing. Allah is the greatest.”
FEMALE HEAD
The video, initially posted on an Egyptian news website, concluded with the masked man holding up a severed female head. Observers said the head appeared fake.
Despite social media messages, it was unclear whether Hamas was responsible. Experts said the video does not indicate the group behind it.
Yet the Olympics were a target for attacks in the past, notably the 1972 Munich Games, where members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches. During the 1996 Atlanta Games, a bomb killed one woman and injured more than 100 people.
For the protection of Israeli athletes, an elite French anti-terrorist unit will be deployed to provide a “ring of steel” around Israel’s first event at the Paris Olympics, Israeli sources said.
Armed Israeli agents have also been sent to Paris amid tension over the Israel-Hamas conflict and calls for pro-Palestine demonstrations.
France reportedly plans to deploy 35,000 police officers each day of the event, with 45,000 due to be present for the Opening Ceremony.
If you are interested in articles produced by Worthy News, please check out our FREE sydication service available to churches or online Christian ministries. To find out more, visit Worthy Plugins.